Ready To Run -- Part II

Updated Oct. 3, 2005 12:01 a.m. ET

Cover Story -- Part I

O'NEAL, WHO DECLINED TO BE interviewed for this article, still faces detractors. The main knock on the firm is that it simply hasn't acted like a market leader -- and therefore doesn't deserve a leader's valuation. It doesn't take risks, critics say. In its rush to get lean and mean, it exited energy and fixed-income trading, only to return after the recent booms were well under way.